As has been said - A good raw idea. A nice beginning. It is a place which holds great mystery: Who built it and why? Why build such a huge citadel in the middle of knowwhere? Why is nobody here anymore? What happened to them?
Woooo, spooky :)

I see this place not as a main section of any campaign, but as a great side dish to a frozen tundra expedition.

----- "We're gonna die out here!" Screamed Julian, His hand unconsciously gripping on his swords hilt for support - but how can one fight a blizzard? He and his friends had thought making their way through this frozen wasteland would have been a great idea to cut off weeks on their expedition. Suddenly - as though a beacon from the very gods themselves - a ray of light glinted just ahead, perhaps something reflecting sunlight from far away. "Quickly! That way!"
It took about 30 minutes for the group to open the vast, icy doors - Julian had to chip away extra bits of ice at the hinges and kick away the large snowdrift forming next to it, and the large door took three of the group to pull open. But finally, they found themselves in this seemedly abandoned castle. Due to the snowstorm outside, it was nearly pitch black in here, but the group exhaustively lowered themselves to the cold ground, counting their blessings that they had been sheltered from this storm. Almost wordlessly, they wrapped themselves in all of their blankets, and fell asleep at the entrance.

Five hours later, Julian woke up. He could have sworn he had just heard someone whisper... But wait, everyone else was alseep...
He could hear the sound of the snowstorm, still barraging the castle walls. But there! There was that whisper again! It wasnt the sound of the wind coming through anywhere, because there was no draft. Julian blinked - in his 5 hours of in this place, his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark - and he could have SWORN he just saw a face peering through the ice of the opaque wall in front of him, as though a child had wiped away the frost on a window and peered in. But that face was no childs face... He remembered Sharpened fangs... Crimson glowing eyes...
Another whisper, and a menacing hiss.
Julian leapt up now, fully awake and terrified. He kicked his friends awake. "We have to leave this place. NOW!"
But as Irony would have it, the snow had packed up against the door again, and they couldnt clear it away from the inside. It seemed they would have to find their way out somewhere else. Which would mean traversing the many corridoors in this god-forsaken place.
Ironic that they had seeked to find sanctuary from death by coming in here. Now they seek sanctuary from death by leaving.-----
Great horror aspect to it.
Maaaan, I could so easily write a BOOK on this place.

4/5 for me. A bit more depth may have gotten a 5/5 :)
Certainly good idea for a first item Go to Comment

interesting, but I would like to know more about the people who built a fortress out of ice in the middle of a bleak wasteland. Why are there only ghosts left, what sort of knowledge could they impart?

What sort of remains can be found inside the ice keep, or is there naught but ice and cold left, no remnant of bodies, clothing, or the day to day tools of existance?

I like this idea. Although humans would find it hard to live in a castle of ice-lighting fires would damage it. A Fire Mage could melt a hole through the gates unless the castle has it's own magic to stop such a thing. Go to Comment